"We have also been well-trained to resist inconvenience, even of the mildest sort: I want what I want, I want it this way, and at this cost, and I want it now."
Good vibrations: bladeless turbines could bring wind power to your home Guardian
Socially Engaged Art in Contemporary China. Voices from Below
A growing movement of soft cultural activism spearheaded by artists, curators and art critics who believe that art has a responsibility to engage directly with Chinese social reality
Philadelphia calls for ‘lights out’ after skyscrapers cause hundreds of bird deaths Guardian
102-year-old woman goes viral after joining great-grandson’s virtual gym class NY Post
Pakistan’s beloved ‘poor man’s burger’ BBC
Eli Lilly releases detailed results on Alzheimer’s drug, as data divide researchers Stat
The Nobel Winner Who’s Not All That Crazy About Writing
Kazuo Ishiguro: “In some ways, I suppose, I’m just not that dedicated to my vocation. I expect it’s because writing wasn’t my first choice of profession. It’s almost something I fell back on because I couldn’t make it as a singer-songwriter. It’s not something I’ve wanted to do every minute of my life. It’s what I was permitted to do. So, you know, I do it when I really want to do it, but otherwise I don’t.” – The New York Times Magazine
Books: A Coronavirus Lifesaver
At least that’s what a bookseller turned newly-minted Instagram book reviewer (that is, a Bookstagrammer) says. He hasn’t seen his family for nearly two years, a friend has cancer, and his job at Waterstone’s keeps going away and coming back as lockdowns come and go. But reading, and Instagram, are there: “There’s so much to be worried about, and book blogging takes my mind off it.” – BBC
Off With All Our Heads – The Online World Loves To Misquote Lewis Carroll
But why? Alison Flood investigates why Britain’s Royal Mint and an actual Carroll commemorative collection have been getting quotes wrong … and then printing them on coinage. Cue the facepalm emoji: Turns out it’s all the fault of Goodreads. – The Guardian (UK)
‘Lolita’ Is A Horrifying Story. How Does It Keep Getting Past Obscenity Laws, Let Alone Cancel Culture?
Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which now seems almost anodyne, was the subject of a criminal prosecution in 1960, but Lolita, which came out the previous year and still has the power to shock, was not. Why? Actor Emily Mortimer, whose father was a barrister who defended more than one client in obscenity trials, uses what she learned from him (“First, it’s very funny. My dad always said you could get away with anything in court as long as you made people laugh”) and others to explain the power of Nabokov’s achievement. – The New York Times